Monday 31 March 2008



Living well is the best revenge


I remember reading an interview Morrissey gave around the time The Smiths split, chastising Mick Jagger and other “past their prime” rockers for hanging around past their best-before dates. He had a point at the time, but I find it odd that as the years pass, and the tables turn, Morrissey and the class of ’83 are now the “elder statesmen” he seemed so opinionated about all those years ago.

I personally have no problem with a 50 year old Morrissey releasing new music in 2008, and I’m pretty chuffed to have a new R.E.M. album drops in less than 24 hours time. 48 year old Michael Stipe, 52 year old Peter Buck, and 49 year old Mike Mills have been R.E.M. for 28 years now, and i think it’s safe to say that they know a little something about how to make music, and make it good (and how to make it the absolute worse it an ever be). There’s no need to delve into the patchwork quality of the last 10 years, where they floundered as a trio in the wake of f Bill Berry’s departure–we all know that collectively, Up, Reveal and Around The Sun
belie the legacy of classic alt-rock album’s like Life’s Rich Pageant, Green, and Document.

Their latest album, Accelerate goes along way to redeeming their reputation, and returning R.E.M. to the upper echelon of indie rockdom.

From the opening spit of lyrics to “Living Well Is The Best Revenge,” you know that the R.E.M. universe in back in alignment. It echoes all the way back to “Radio Free Europe” in tempo and instrumentation. “Man-Sized Wreath” reminds me of Document‘s “Finest Worksong” with its strong rhythm section and slick production. But, even with all these obvious touchstones, the thing that makes Accelerate unique is that, as it proceeds, it finds its own voice and its own sound. R.E.M. have gone back to a writing and playing style they may have abandoned, but they’re not retreading old songs in new clothes; this is a new R.E.M. album that sounds like–nay reminds you of–some of the old, great R.E.M. albums of the past.

Welcome back elder statesmen Stipe, Mills and Buck, we’ve been keeping your seat warm.

R.E.M. “Living Well Is The Best Revenge”
[Accelerate, 2008, Warner Bros]

myspace : hype machine : elbo.ws





by J. Di Gioia | Comments Off

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